Marc Guehi appeared to question Thomas Tuchel's much-criticised tactics after England crashed out of the World Cup against Argentina. The Three Lions saw their World Cup dream come to a devastating end on Wednesday night, with La Albiceleste coming from behind to book their place in another final, facing Spain on Sunday.
Gordon's goal not enough as England collapse
Anthony Gordon gave his side the lead after 55 minutes, latching onto Morgan Rogers' cross to score from close range. However, England wilted under pressure, inviting Argentina to punish them with two late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez, sending the defending world champions through.
Tuchel's side had just 12 per cent possession in the time between Gordon's goal and Martinez's 92nd-minute winner. The head coach's substitutions were widely condemned in the aftermath of another World Cup failure.
Substitutions criticised by Rooney and Guehi
Gordon was replaced by defender Ezri Konsa after 72 minutes, with two more defenders—Nico O'Reilly and Dan Burn—introduced 10 minutes later. Tuchel did throw on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney after Argentina had taken the lead, but it was too little, too late. Wayne Rooney led the post-match criticism of Tuchel's approach and changes, with centre-half Guehi also suggesting he did not agree with the manager's call.
“Once we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try and hold on, which at this level is just not enough, so I'm gutted,” Guehi said. He added: “We should have carried on. We should have carried on pushing. It kind of felt like we scored and then the mentality was go back, defend.”
Asked if he believes the group has enough to end their long wait for silverware, with Euro 2028 their next target, the Manchester City defender said: “I don't know. It's hard to think about the future right now, at this moment it is just disappointment.”
Tuchel defends his approach
Tuchel was somewhat defensive of his approach when he spoke at full-time. “We decided to go to a back five because the gaps were far too open,” Tuchel told BBC Sport post-match. “They won every header, they kept crossing and crossing. So we went to a back five to close the gaps inside and be stronger in the air. Straight after our goal with no substitution, we just conceded way too many crosses and chances. We tried to help, but of course the responsibility is on the coach; if it doesn't go well, it's easy to say it was wrong.”
Asked if England should have instead pushed for a second goal, he responded: “Yeah, but it doesn't help if you don't have the ball. Of course we wanted to go for the second goal, but I didn't have the feeling that an offensive substitution would help. We stayed in our 4-4-2, but became more and more passive. We couldn't win any balls, couldn't keep the ball. So I think it was not a structural problem. We changed nothing after a goal, but the match changed completely.”
